Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, published in Washington in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, which developed and flew the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It traces the U-2's development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960, and later operations. One section is titled U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK.
“Cooper”7 pages
CO 5653421 UNCLASSIFIED (0 12958 1.6IMI1l>101010101010101010<25Yrs IS1 One reason why the steady increase in evidenced by its success in along activirY overflights were stopped was ability to track and engage U-2s, as owning five U-2s. By 1968 were keeping a close watch on and actively tracked U-2s as soon as they became airborne. me u-hs then had to face a growing PRC air defense system that not only consisted of SA-2 missiles but also the r"----1fast and high-flying MiG-21. MiG-21 pilots had become adept at the power-zoom technique and w re threatening almost every U-2 mission. The risks to U-2s now seemed too great.° The decision to end Asian overflights was also rooted in the Johnson administration's change in its whole approach to the war in Indochina in the spring of 1968. On 31 March 1968, the President limited the bombing of North Vietnam in order to improve the chances for peace talks. The end of flights over T-lwas viewed as another way to improve me peace process. ---"--9ereeat„ UNCLASSIFIED
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.